FTSE 250 movers: Cobham tanks on profit warning; Aberdeen hit by downgrade

London’s FTSE 250 was down 0.2% to 16,930.46 in afternoon trading.

Aerospace and defence group Cobham tanked after announcing a £500m rights issue and reporting a big drop in first-quarter trading profit.

Profit fell to £15m from £50m in the first quarter of 2015, missing the board’s expectations. The company attributed the slow start to the year to operational issues in the Wireless business resulting in delayed shipments and a one-off charge of £9m.

It also pointed to increasing headwinds in the commercial fly-in fly-out business and cost increases on a small number of development programmes in the Advanced Electronics Solutions Sector.

For the full year, the profit shortfall is expected to be about £15m, Cobham said, as it confirmed its intention to rebase the dividend and pay out the same amount this year as last.

Aberdeen Asset Management was under the cosh after Citigroup downgraded the stock to ‘sell’ from ‘neutral’.

It said the shares are down around 40% from a 507p peak in April of last year.

“More recently, shares have bounced 42% from 217p on 20 January 2016. We see this reflecting too much optimism, too soon, and downgrade,” Citi said, adding that first-half results on 3 May are unlikely to provide a positive surprise.

Housebuilder Crest Nicholson was a high rise after Shore Capital stressed its ‘buy’ recommendation on the stock, where it sees fair value at 607p, as part of a broader comment on the sector.

Risers

BGEO Group (BGEO) 2,249.00p 4.02%
Workspace Group (WKP) 846.00p 3.55%
Grainger (GRI) 223.10p 3.48%
Drax Group (DRX) 318.60p 3.44%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 515.00p 3.27%
Bellway (BWY) 2,411.00p 2.86%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 349.50p 2.76%
AO World (AO.) 182.30p 2.70%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 190.50p 2.42%
Assura (AGR) 55.55p 2.30%

Fallers

Cobham (COB) 182.00p -15.43%
Paysafe Group (PAYS) 367.10p -4.87%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 297.10p -3.94%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,150.00p -3.12%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 102.50p -3.03%
Evraz (EVR) 140.60p -2.50%
Greggs (GRG) 1,050.00p -2.23%
Indivior (INDV) 167.00p -2.22%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,255.00p -2.21%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 379.80p -2.09%